Action Dice and other Coolness converted from Spycraft to D&D

USING ACTION DICE
Action dice can be used even after you have already rolled (and failed), but not after the DM has described
what the result of your original, unaltered roll is. You can keep spending action dice until you run out, or
the DM describes the outcome.

You can’t use Action Dice to alter leveling effects such as hit point rolls, ability score increases of any
kind, or rolls for starting income.

USES
1. Add to a die roll: You roll the die and add it to your d20 attack, save or skill check roll. If you
roll the maximum number possible (4 on a d4 for example), the die “explodes” allowing you another roll.
You then add the two action die roll results together and add that to your d20 roll.

2. Add to AC: You roll the die and add it to your AC for one round.

3. Activate threats and DM errors: If you score a “threat” (20 or another number in your threat range)
you can spend an action die to turn it into a critical success. You can use an action die to negate a critical
failure, or turn an NPCs error into a critical failure.

4. Heal yourself: You can use them to heal yourself outside of combat (4 hit points per action die spent).

5. Ask for an inspiration check: If you’re stumped, you can ask the DM for an inspiration check. If he
agrees, you spend an action die and roll 1d20, adding your character level, against a DC set by the DM.
With success, you receive a hint about what to do (the better you beat the DC, the better the hint).
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PLAYER’S DICE:
At levels 1-5, each PC gets 3 action dice (d4) per game session. At levels 6-10, you get 4 (d6) action dice.
At levels 11-15, you get 5 (d8) action dice. At levels 16-20, you get 6 (d10) action dice. You can get more
action dice in the same session by DM award for clever ideas, jokes that crack him up or for other actions.
Unspent action dice are lost at the end of the game session. You receive a fresh pool of action dice next
session.
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DM’S DICE:
The DM gets a number of (d12) action dice equal to the highest level PC + the number of PCs in the
group. Every time the DM hands out a bonus action die to a PC, the DM gets another bonus action die.
The DM uses his action dice to turn PC errors into critical fumbles or for NPC actions/threats.
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ACTION DIE BONUSES BY CHARACTER CLASS
These are class abilities only gained by characters who begin their adventuring career in one of these
classes. It is not gained by multiclassing.

Barbarian/Fighter: Accurate! Whenever you spend an action die to add to an attack roll, or to a
Strength or Constitution-based skill check, two dice are added instead of one (e.g., a 1st-level character’s
bonus of 1d4 becomes 2d4).

Bard/Cleric/Paladin/Sorcerer: Adaptable! Whenever you spend an action die to add to a Charisma or
Wisdom-based skill check, two dice are added instead of one (e.g., a 1st-level character’s bonus of 1d4
becomes 2d4).

Monk/Ranger/Rogue: Dexterous! Whenever you spend an action die to add to a Dexterity-based skill
check, two dice are added instead of one (e.g., a 1st-level character’s bonus of 1d4 becomes 2d4).

Wizard: Astute! Whenever you spend an action die to add to an Intelligence-based skill check, two dice
are added instead of one (e.g., a 1st-level character’s bonus of 1d4 becomes 2d4).

Here are a couple more Spycraft goodies for any d20 game...
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EDUCATION CHECK:
Your character knows more than his knowledge skills might indicate. These skills are based on his
background (education and prior experiences). Anytime you feel your character should know a piece of
information based on his background, you can ask the DM to make an education check. The DM assigns a
DC (10-15 for simple information, or up to 30 for complex information).

To make an Education check, you roll 1d20 and add your character level plus your Intelligence modifier.
If the check succeeds, you learn the information. If you fail, you do not know the information.
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INSPIRATION CHECK:
Sometimes, a sudden flash of insight strikes you. When you are stumped as to what to do next, you can
spend an action die and make an Inspiration check. You can ask the DM to make an inspiration check.
The DM assigns a DC (10-15 for something obvious, or up to 30 for complex or not obvious courses of
action). The higher your roll beats the target DC, the better the hint you get.

To make an Inspiration check, you roll 1d20 and add your character level plus your Wisdom modifier. If
the check succeeds, you get a hint as to what to do next. If you fail, you do not get a hint.

Spycraft, AEG's new d20 modern espionage RPG, is fantastic and a goldmine of ideas and innovations for D&D and d20 in general. There are the things above, but there are also new skills, feats and campaign advice that rock! They introduce the concept of scoring criticals with your skill checks to get maximum results, for one, and new skill booster feats that increase your threat range with a set of three related skills.

Frex, "Alertness" in Spycraft gives you +2 to Listen, Search and Spot, and increases your threat range from 20 to 19-20. Now Alertness rules!

Also "Dodge" has been changed to "Sidestep" and gives you a +2 AC bonus vs one opponent OR a +1 bonus vs all opponents each round you invoke it. Pretty sweet! Now Dodge rules!

They have a ton of new unarmed, ranged and melee attack feats, as well as style feats to make you look pimpin' (LOL) and chase feats to make you move your vehicle faster than OJ on a California Freeway!

My advice is go buy Spycraft! You'll get a lot of use out of it regardless of what d20 game you run! It's a fun read, too.

Kaptain_Kantrip, the living advertisement for AEG's Spycraft. So, are you gathering together a phone bank top start calling all the gamers of the world to personally ask them to buy this?

Remeber kids, it's okay to love a book...It's not okay to LOVE a book. KK, your posts on this everywhere show your obvious liking of the product. If it's half as good as your claiming, it'll be wortth my money.

What you have described so far, Kaptain, sounds good. I never played the spy genre, so I might give it a try. My group is die hard D&D, tho, so I doubt I will get more than a couple to play it. I do now plan to buy the book. I may be able to use some of it in my D&D game at least. Thanks for the enthusiastic posts.

We just used Action Dice for the second week in a row (this time with a fuller understanding of how they work, LOL, which is as described above). It worked out well. All PCs and the DM (me) used up all their dice rather quickly in the final battle with dramatic results. It was great fun, and the dice certainly made a huge impact on the flow of the battle! Without the dice, the wizard (who was out of spells) would never have hit in combat like she did, taking out a few bad guys. And the fighters would have been hit or killed several times over without 'em. The dice let several of the NPCs stay in the fray (or undo critical fumbles I rolled, LOL). It was great!

And Dr. Zoom, there is a lot of stuff you can use from Spycraft in your D&D game! Over 150 feats, Action Dice, more!

Are there any really creative feats that show they really understand the rules and how to use them? And are there any feats that Wizards should be smaking themselves in the head for leaving it out of the PHB?